Introduction

This Catholic First Communion photograph was taken by Schanz Studio of Fort Wayne, Indiana, n.d. From the collection of Reverend Charles Banet.

The following entries provide information to better direct research. Most entries give repository contact information and a sources to assist the reader in finding and understanding records. The researcher is encouraged to consult the general references at the chapter’s end for a more comprehensive listing of titles.

Entries for a few denominations include brief commentary to identify complicated historical changes that need to be considered when undertaking research. Those entries with commentary may or may not include repository contact information and other sources.

Most denominations have undergone many changes over the years, and they continue to evolve. The church denominational name your ancestor knew may not exist today. It is recommended that the following references be consulted before research begins:

These two sites provide current and more detailed infor-mation about denominations and give links to many archives.

Finally, study the history of the area. For example, in slave-holding states prior to the Civil War, records of the local area’s established churches should be consulted for entries that will include African Americans.

These notes are neither exhaustive nor inclusive but are presented merely to serve as information to better direct research in some denominations.

African American Religions

Sources

The Black Church in America. Indianapolis: Lilly Endowment, 1992.
Directory of African American Religious Bodies: A Compendium by the Howard University School of Divinity, edited by Wardell J. Payne. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press, 1991.

Richardson, Harry V. Dark Salvation: The Story of Methodism as It Developed Among Blacks in America. Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Press, 1976.

Sanders, Cheryl Jeanne. Saints in Exile: The Holiness-Pentacostal Experience in African-American Religion and Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

African Methodist Episcopal

Commentary

Organized in 1816, the African Methodist Episcopal Church is a United States Methodist Church not affiliated with the United Methodist Church governmentally. It developed from a congregation formed by some Philadelphia-area slaves and former slaves who built Bethel African Methodist Church in that city. In 1799, Richard Allen was ordained minister of the church by Bishop Francis Asbury of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1816, Allen was consecrated as bishop of the newly formed Methodist Episcopal Church. After the Civil War, the church grew rapidly in the South. It holds a general conference every four years and has about 1,200,000 members. The website for the Fifth Episcopal District Headquarters in Los Angeles <www.ame-church.org> has links to dozens of other AME church sites.

Baptists

Commentary

There are approximately 134 separate kinds of Baptists, including Southern, United, Regular, Seed Baptist (Indiana), Primitive, Freewill (sometimes Free Will), Seventh Day, Regular, Landmark, and Independent Fundamental. Try to determine the kind of Baptist your ancestor was and narrow your search to a state and county. Baptists have this basic organizational pattern: churches belong to associations (composed of churches from a particular area/county) and to a state convention. Records are usually maintained by the church, but the associational or state offices can be of assistance in locating a church, or information if the church is defunct. Today, many Baptist archives and repositories, regardless of their own particular affiliation, acquire materials from all types of Baptist denominations. Should the repository that is contacted not have the requested church records, it may still be able to assist in a search.

Church of God

Sources

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, The (Mormons; Latter-day Saint Church; LDS)

Commentary

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church, was organized by Joseph Smith Jr., in Fayette, New York, on 6 April 1830. As membership grew, so did persecution, causing members to move from New York to Ohio, then to Missouri and Illinois. By the late 1840s, the Mormons were again migrating, this time to what would become Utah. A more detailed history is at http://www.mormon.org. In addition to the expected record-keeping of vital events, the Church took a census every four years from 1914 to 1950 (except for 1945 during World War II). Not all members were included, but for many who were, the entire family is listed along with places and dates of birth. In addition, more than in any other denomination, Latter-day Saints are encouraged to keep journals and personal records. Church members have contributed more than eight million family group records for searching by all who are interested in their family’s heritage. Indexes to many of these records will be found online at FamilySearch.org. Similar records can also be found on Ancestry.com, including an LDS Member Name Index, 1830–45, and the LDS Biographical Encyclopedia.

Churches of Christ

Contact Information

Congregational

Commentary

As a result of mergers, schisms, and other historical developments, at least three denominations contain Congregational Churches or former Congregational Churches: Congregational Christian Churches (National Association), Unitarian Universalist Association, and the United Church of Christ. Many early Congregational Church records will be found in compilations such as Jay Mack Holbrook, Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 (Oxford, Mass.: Holbrook Institute, 1983) series published by The New England Historic Genealogical Society and in other New England town vital record books.

Sources

Garrison, W. E., and A. T. DeGroot. The Disciples of Christ, a History. St. Louis: Bethany Press, 1948.

Harrell, David Edwin, Jr. Quest for a Christian American 1800–1865: A Social History of the Disciples of Christ. Vol 1. in the series, Religon and American Culture. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2003.

———. Sources of Division in the Disciples of Christ, 1865–1900. Vol 2. in the series, Religon and American Culture. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2003.

Episcopal Church U.S.A.—see also Protestant Episcopal

Contact Information

The Archives of the Episcopal Church U.S.A.
Records Administration Office: Episcopal Church Center
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017-4594
E-mail address: Research@episcopalarchives.org

Evangelical Free Church of America

Contact Information

Evangelical United Brethren Church—see also Methodist

Sources

Leedy, Roy B. The Evangelical Church in Ohio Being a History of the Ohio Conference and Merged Conferences of the Evangelical Church in Ohio, Now the Evangelical United Brethren Church, 1816–1951. Cleveland: Evangelical Press, 1959.

Sources

Allen, Cameron. “Records of the Huguenots in the United States, Canada, and the West Indies with Some Mention of Dutch and German Sources.” A paper delivered at the World Conference on Records and Genealogical Seminar, 5–8 August 1969, Area F-10, Salt Lake City, sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. FHL microfiche 6039362. Much of this material also appears in “Huguenot Migrations” in the American Society of Genealogists, Genealogical Research: Methods and Sources, 256–90. Vol. 2. Washington, D.C.: American Society of Genealogists, 1971.

Lutheran

Commentary

Lutheran church records rank among the best available in terms of research content and preservation. They are invaluable for tracing German or Scandinavian ancestors, even though the numerous synods may appear baffling. Frederick S. Weiser, an authority on German records, has translated, transcribed, and published volumes of primarily Lutheran church records and documents of Lutheran pastors. His publications, both monographs and periodical articles, focus on the Lutheran church records from Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York.

As a result of a merger in 1988, the majority of American Lutherans now belong to a unified body called the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

The American Church, formed in 1960, was composed largely of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Norwegian American), the United Evangelical Lutheran Church (Danish American), and American Lutheran Church (Midwestern German American). The Lutheran Church in America (LCA) was formed in 1962 by the consolidation of the Augustana Evangelical Church (Swedish American), Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church (Finnish American), American Evangelical Lutheran Church (Danish American), and the United Lutheran Church in America (German American) churches of the eastern and midwestern United States.

Lutheran—Finnish American Churches

Contact Information

Lutheran—Missouri Synod

Commentary

The second largest Lutheran denomination is the Missouri Synod. This church is much more theologically conservative than those that merged to form the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Largely Midwestern and German in background, it also contains some Slovak and Finnish Lutheran congregations.

Contact Information

Mennonites

Commentary

Founded in Switzerland in the 1500s after secession from the Zurich state church, the followers of Jacob Ammann broke from the other Mennonites in Switzerland and Alsace in 1693. Most Amish Mennonites immigrated to Pennsylvania in the eighteenth century when others rejoined the main Mennonite group. Mennonites place the Bible as the sole rule of faith and shun worldly ways and modern innovation (education and technology). The sacraments are adult baptism and communion.

Sources

Methodist

Commentary

Today’s Methodist Church is the descendent of several predecessors. They are (briefly) the following: Methodist Episcopal Church (1784–1939), Methodist Episcopal Church, South (1845–1939), Methodist Protestant Church (1828–1939), Methodist Church (1939–1968), United Brethren in Christ (1800–1946), Evangelical Association (1803–1922), United Evangelical Church (1894–1922), Evangelical Church (1922–1946), Evangelical United Brethren (1946–1968), and United Methodist Church (1968–present). For further details, consult the time line at http://www.gcah.org/UMC_timeline.htm. In addition to church and conference records, the Methodists published state conference newspapers, such as the nineteenth-century Southern Christian Advocate. An index to obituaries in the Southern Christian Advocate (1837–1948, South Carolina Methodist Advocate (1948–1968) and South Carolina United Methodist Advocate (1968– ) is at Wofford College Library Archives (Spartenburg, S.C.) at http://www.wofford.edu/sandorTeszlerLibrary/archives/archivesObituarySearchForm.asp.

The Evangelical United Brethren published some English and some foreign-language newspapers; an index to the obituaries in several of these UB denominational papers is at http://www.huntington.edu/ubhc/ubhcobit.html. An index to the following denominational newspapers may be searched at http://www.huntington.edu/ubhc/ubhcobit.html: Christian Conservator (1885–1954) The United Brethren (1954–1994); The UB (1994–2003); The Religious Telescope (1834–1849); Der Christliche Apologete, 1888–January 1889; Der Christliche Botschafter, selections from 1836–1865, Die Deutsche Telescope (The German Telescope), April 1847–April 1850; Evangelical Messenger, 1848–1866; Die Evangelische Zeitschrift (The Evangelical Journal), January–November 1894; Der Frohliche Botschafter (The Joyful Messenger), December 1851–April 1866; and Die Geschaeftige Martha (The Busy Martha), July 1841–December 1851.

Sources

Batsel, John, and Lyda Batsel. Union List of United Methodist Serials 1773–1973. General Commission on Archives and History, United Methodist Church with the United Methodist Librarians Fellowship, and Garrett Theological Seminar, 1974.

General Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church. The Directory. Madison, N.J.: United Methodist Church, 1981.

Harmon, Nolan B., ed. The Encyclopedia of World Methodism. 2 vols. Nashville: United Methodist Publishing House, 1974. Prepared and edited under the supervision of the World Methodist Council and the Commission on Archives and History.

Minutes of the Methodist Conferences Annually Held in America; From 1773 to 1813 Inclusive Volume The First. New York: 1813; reprint, Swainsboro, Ga.: Magnolia Press, 1983.

Presbyterian

Commentary

The father of America Presbyterianism was Francis Makemie (1658–1708), of Scotch-Irish descent, who came to the eastern shore of Maryland in 1683 where he began preaching. In 1716 the Synod of Philadelphia was formed. The colonial revival caused a temporary division (1745–58) into Old Side and New Side bodies. Presbyterianism grew rapidly and by the beginning of the Revolution ranked second to Congregationalism as the most numerous religious body in the colonies. The Plan of Union of 1801 provided for cooperation between Presbyterians and Congregationlists on the frontier, and a large number of Congregational churches became Presbyterian. Resulting controversy divided the main body of American Presbyterians into Old School and New School bodies in 1837–38. Division over the Civil War caused the southern bodies to form the Presbyterian Church in the United States; the northern wings merged in 1869–70 as the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. The United Presbyterian church was formed in 1858 by the union of two covenanter groups, the Associate Reformed and the Associate. In 1958 the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. merged with the United Presbyterian Church as the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. The sacraments are infant baptism and communion. The church is organized as a system of courts in which clergy and lay members participate at local, regional, and national levels. Services are simple with emphasis on the sermon.

Sources

Beecher, Willis Judson. Index of Presbyterian ministers containing names of all ministers of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America. Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, [1883].

Miller, William B. “Church Records of the United States: Presbyterian.” A paper delivered at the World Conference on Records and Genealogical Seminar, 5–8 August 1969, Salt Lake City, sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Protestant Episcopal—Episcopal Church, USA

Commentary

The Episcopal Church does not maintain central membership lists. The local church maintains its records, unless it becomes defunct, then the records are transferred to the diocesan archives. To determine whether a particular church is active, contact the archives or use an Episcopal Web resource, such as http://anglicansonline.org/usa, which lists by state all ECUSA churches and provides information about the denomination.

For information regarding records of the colonial Church of England in what is now the United States, consult the collection at Lambeth’s Palace in London and those of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. The Society kept extensive records of the colonists requesting parish priests and complaining about the “dissenters” and reports and letters of more than three hundred missionaries. These records have been microfilmed and are available at many archival and academic repositories.

Commentary

This denomination was established in North America in New Amsterdam. The first services were held on Manhattan Island in 1628, and a church was built as early as 1633. Until becoming the Reformed Church in America (RCA) in 1867, this denomination was known as the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. It was the only Christian denomination permitted to hold public worship in New Amsterdam until the English takeover of 1664. The Dutch minister married nearly every couple and baptized nearly every child in the city prior to that time, conducting these sacraments for all nationalities and races. Manhattan’s collegiate Dutch Reformed churches form a corporation within the RCA that owns the original records of the collegiate churches from 1639 (only copies exist of the earliest registers) through 1806, when some churches began to keep their own registers. Transcripts have been published by The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society (NYG&B) in various forms, such as Harry Macy Jr., “Dutch Reformed Records of New York City in the NYG&B Library,” NYG&B Newsletter (Spring 1994). It may also be found online at online at The New York Genealogical and Biographical Society. The NYG&B Society has also published Hugh Hastings, Ecclesiastical Records State of New York, 1901–16 (Albany: J. B. Lyons, state printer, 1901–1916), which features selected transcripts of the church administrative records and correspondence. See also The Holland Society of New York for lists of members, 1649–1829, and other holdings.

German—see United Church of Christ

Sources

De Jong, Gerald Francis. The Dutch Reformed Church in the American Colonies. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978.

A Guide to Local Church Records in the Archives of the Reformed Church in America. New Brunswick, N.J.: Reformed Church in America Archives. A regularly updated guide; ordering instructions at <www.rca.org>.

The Historical Directory of the Reformed Church in America, 1628–2000. Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America, no. 37. Edited by Russell Gasero. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2001.

Roman Catholic

Commentary

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian church in the world. Traditionally Catholic records have been kept at the parish level, so the vast majority of sacramental records (baptism, marriage, communion, confirmation, burial, and other original records) will be found at the church in which the event took place. However, older records and those of closed parishes have often been moved to diocesan archives or occasionally to historical societies or university archives. Locating records of older churches can be challenging. Begin looking for the church at the parish level and then consult local diocesan sources, which can at least provide information on where those records can be found. Links to many helpful sites dealing with historical and record-keeping information can be found at the World Wide Catholic Web Directory at http://www.catholic.net/RCC/Indices. This site also has links to various dioceses and parishes, religious orders, schools, colleges, and universities.

Society of Friends (Quaker)

Commentary

The Society of Friends was an important religious group from the seventeenth century onward in North America. They spread throughout New England and into New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana. The Quakers are organized into meetings designated for worship (First Day Meetings), congregational business (Monthly Meetings), meetings that combine a group of congregations from a specific area that come together for worship and business (Quarterly Meetings), and meetings that have jurisdiction over a wide geographical area (Yearly Meetings). Quakers usually chose not to register marriages in civil records prior to the close of the nineteenth century, and most Quakers did not use tombstones until the mid-nineteenth century. These omissions add importance to the consistent and thorough record-keeping found in Quaker meeting records, which record a family’s births, deaths, and marriages. Certificates of removal were issued when a Quaker moved from one meeting to another and also appear in the monthly meeting minutes of both the transferring and receiving congregations.

QuakerMeetings.com--A website with information about all the Quaker congregations (Meetings) that have ever existed in the United States.

Sources

Abstracts of the Records of the Society of Friends in Indiana, Part One through Six (1962–1975) with Index. By Willard Heiss. Indiana Historical Society, 1972. Covers Indiana Meetings. Reissued as volume 7 of Hinshaw’s Encyclopedia series. The Indiana Historical Society did not release the Heiss work for inclusion in the CD.

Elliot, Errol T. Quakers in the American Frontier: History of the Westward Migrations, Settlements, and Developments of Friends on the American Continent. Richmond, Ind.: Friends United Press, 1969.

Heiss, Willard. Abstracts of Records of the Society of Friends in Indiana. Volume 7 of the Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy by Hinshaw (see following). Vol 7 published Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1977. Revised by Ruth Dorell and Thomas Hamm in 1986.

Hinshaw, William Wade, ed. Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy. 6 vols. 1936; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1991–96. Available on CD-ROM from Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore. Also available on Ancestry.com.

The United Church of Christ

Commentary

The heritage and history of the United Church of Christ incorporates several antecedent traditions. The United Church of Christ was founded in 1957, when the Evangelical and Reformed Church united with the Congregational Christian Churches. The Evangelical and Reformed Church was formed in 1934 by the merger of the Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) and the Evangelical Synod of America. The Congregational Christian Church was formed in the 1800s. The United Church of Christ is organized by congregations, which are represented at a general synod that sets policy.

Contact Information

Archives of the United Church of Christ
700 Prospect Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44115
E-mail address: kellyb@ucc.org